Mets Game 157: Loss to Nationals

Nationals 2 Mets 1

The Mets lose their 90th game of the season, to a team who has already hurdled triple digits in losses.

In addition, rookie stringbean Ross Detwiler earned his first MLB win — in his lucky 13th start. The 6’5″, 180-lb. Detwiler scattered seven hits in six innings and disappeared at one point of the game — then magically reappeared when he turned his shoulders square to the TV camera.

Another tough loss for Nelson Figueroa, who spun six innings of six-hit ball, striking out five but allowing two runs to cross the plate.

Notes

The Mets had runners in scoring position in six different innings, but never drove one in. They left 10 on base during the game.

Some guy named Mike Morse went 3-for-4 with a solo homer. He’s a 6’5″, 235-lb. infielder / outfielder plucked from the Seattle organization in late June. He was also a teammate of Jeremy Reed both in the ChiSox and Mariners organizations. The Mets couldn’t get this guy in the J.J. Putz deal?

At one point in the telecast, Kevin Burkhardt suggested that Pedro Feliciano wouldn’t mind expanding his role from LOOGY to setup man. I don’t know if Perpetual Pedro could handle the role, but it certainly would’ve made sense to give him the chance this September. Everyone is in agreement that Feliciano can retire lefthanded hitters with acceptable consistency, and Mets manager Jerry Manuel has bemoaned many times the lack of a “crossover guy”. It’s too late now, but it might have made sense to give Feliciano a shot to pitch against both lefties AND righties, to learn whether he could be that guy, rather than continuing to set up “matchups” in these meaningless games.

Next Mets Game

The Mets and Nationals play again on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM. Mike Pelfrey faces J.D. Martin.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.

An observation during the game: leading by 1 with a runner on 2nd and 2 outs, the Nationals decided to intentionally walk Beltran with RHP Jason Bergmann on the mound to get to Jeff Francoeur. The decision paid off, despite the Nats allowing the go-ahead run to come to the plate, as Bergmann set down Francoeur on 3 pitches. Goes to show, IMHO, that IBBs do have a place in the game, even if they go against conventional knowledge of putting more runners on base. I think the IBB would have been eradicated from the game by now if it didn’t work to some degree the majority of the time.

I realize IBBs have a place in the game, but the way they are used today — in combination with “situational relievers” — has become too commonplace in everyday game strategy. Pitchers are ineffective against certain hitters because they never learn to pitch to them. Avoidance, to me, is not something that should be used as a basis of strategy. It goes completely against the idea of “going after” your opponent, and to me it is part of the reason we have so many “specialists”.

Also, I’m sure that the IBB “works” the majority of the time because pitching in ANY situation “works” the majority of the time. Even a .400 hitter fails 60% — or the majority — of the time.